Press release
Realtor.com® September Rental Report: Big Tech City Rents Are Back
National rents grew at a double-digit annual pace for the second straight month, while surging downtown rents suggest more typical pre-COVID rental activity
About this update from News Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"National rents grew at a double-digit annual pace for the second straight month, while surging downtown rents suggest more typical pre-COVID rental activity could be on the horizon\n -- The U.S. median rental price increased 13.6% year-over-year, bringing monthly rents up $222 to a new high of $1,654 in September\n -- All unit sizes saw double-digit rent increases over 2020: Studios (+11.3%), one-bedrooms (+13.7%) and two-bedrooms (+14.4%)\n -- Rent growth surpassed pre-COVID levels in the 10 biggest tech metros like Austin (+25.3%) and Seattle (+16.7%), driven by skyrocketing rents in downtown counties\n\n\nSANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- From Broadway lights to bustling offices, big cities are back – and so are surging downtown rental prices. Following sharp declines during the pandemic, September data shows rents in the 10 biggest U.S. tech cities like Austin and New York surpassed March 2020 levels by an average of 6.3%, according to the Realtor.com® Monthly Rental Report released today. Nationally, rents grew at a double-digit annual pace (+13.6%) for the second month in a row.\n\"With rents continuing to surge to new highs nationwide, including in big tech hubs, September data confirms the U.S. rental market has moved past the recovery phase and is fully back in business. Rental demand remains unseasonably high, driven by still-limited housing supply, rising mortgage rates pushing buyers towards renting, and more people returning to big cities,\" said George Ratiu, Manager of Economic Research for Realtor.com®. \"At the same time, it's important to put recent rental activity in the context of housing trends throughout the pandemic. Rents didn't rebound from COVID declines as quickly as for-sale home prices, but rental activity has now reached a level not unlike the homebuying frenzy seen earlier this year, before fall seasonality kicked in. The good news is that if rents continue to parallel home listing prices, rental price growth could potentially begin cooling this winter.\" \nRents surge in major urban tech hubs following steep pandemic declines \nWhile big city rents dropped or stalled during the pandemic as people fled to less expensive and crowded areas, large urban rental markets began to rebound in April 2021 with the rollout of vaccines. However, rent growth in these major metros has found its ...